Fine, I'll Get Wireless Headphones Because Dongles Are Terrible

One day is all it took. The iPhone headphone jack is gone, and after a day in the dark world of iPhone dongles, I'm reluctant but ready to go wireless. Apple, you win.

Killing Jack

When Apple revealed the iPhone 7 earlier this month, it set the world abuzz by confirming the rumors: Yes, it was killing the headphone jack, and now you'd need this extra piece of equipment to plug regular headphones into an iPhone.

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Apple

Believe it or not, I was excited when I first saw the dongle. As Apple's Phil Schiller showed off the new connector that bridges headphone plug to Lightning, I saw the solution to my problem.

I don't have an iPhone 7, but I do have an iPhone 6 with a busted headphone jack. The dongle seemed like an easier fix than repairing the actual jack—and a chance to step into the iPhone 7 future—so I dropped $9 on the wee white cord. Besides, dongle operation seems deceptively easy: Plug in and hit play. After I updated to iOS 10 (required for sound over Lightning) sweet sound once again filled my ears, the misery of my commute fading away. Yet no song can play loud enough to drown out how much this jury-rigged solution sucks.

Andrew Moseman

Consider the old daily routine: Plug headphones into iPhone. Rock out on the way to work. Unplug headphones from iPhone, and plug into computer. Power through the day. Move back to phone for the journey home. Easy peasy.

Here is the new routine: Plug headphones into $9 doohickey into iPhone. Rock out on the way to work. Unplug headphones from dongle and plug into computer. Recoil at the sight of a limp dongle dangling from phone. Unplug doohickey from phone and leave it on the desk. Power through the day. Put headphones back in bag and leave the office. Get as far as the elevator before realizing the dongle is back on the desk. Consider whether to go back for it or live with a silent subway ride. Go back. Plug headphones into dongle into iPhone. Sigh, audibly.

That is just half of a two-sided problem. Say you bought the iPhone 7 and the wired EarPods that came with it have become your de facto pair of headphones. These have a Lightning plug that doesn't connect to your laptop, nor anything else that's not an iOS device. Nobody has come out with a dongle to go from Lightning back to 3.5mm, at least not yet. Will Apple put a Lightning port into its future MacBooks? Who knows! It's not like you'll buy a new laptop just because they do. This isn't simply going to work itself out.

For now, you need either multiple sets of headphones, or you need dongles. There must be a better way.

Air Buds

There is, and Apple is screaming its answer from the rooftops. Moments after signing the headphone jack's death certificate, Apple introduced the world to AirPods, its $170 take on a pair of white Bluetooth earpieces. There's no wire between the headphones and the phone. There's no wire between the left and right earpiece. There are no visible wires, period. Just open the AirPods case near your iPhone and the device recognizes their Bluetooth signal, asking you if you'd like to connect. That's it. Set aside the most glaring design flaws and the magic is clear.

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Apple

You can see where Apple is going with this. It used to be so easy to plug in headphones that you never gave it a second thought. By striking a mortal blow against a standard that endured for decades, Apple turned that simple movement into a mess of dongles, or perhaps dongles upon dongles. You can go back to simplicity though, and rid yourself of wires to boot! Apple's W1-powered wireless technology—which powers not only the AirPods but also some other wireless headphones Apple sells, like Beats—will make your new headphones even easier to use with your iPhone and Mac as wired headphones were. If you pony up for them, that is, and if you stay within Apple's ecosystem.

Indeed, if you move between MacBook, iPhone, and iPad, the W1 connection should work like a dream. Take a step outside the Apple ecosystem, however, and suddenly the magic is gone. The headphones will work with a PC or and Android device. They're based on Bluetooth, after all. But that seamless transfer meant to mimic the ease of plugging and unplugging headphones is gone; you're left to go through the more annoying Bluetooth pairing process.

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Headphones were always an agnostic accessory. It was their gift we all took for granted. Cheap earbuds or fancy-looking Beats—no matter. Your headphones didn't give a damn whether you plugged them into an iPhone, a Galaxy, a digital audio recorder, or that giant 1970s receiver that runs your turntable. Now, on the heels of the iPhone announcement, come the rumors that Samsung may follow Apple's lead and design a propriety headphone port of its own, building an even higher wall around an even smaller garden. Pour one out for 3.5.

If the choice comes down to competing wired standards or competing wireless standards, eventually I'll choose wireless. I don't want to. I will miss plug and play, and loathe the idea of headphones that work better in one ecosystem when they used to just work. But this dongle, man. This is not the answer.